Weft-fork actuator for looms.



0. AJSAWYBR.

WEFT FORK ACTUATOR P012- LOOMS;

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1513.

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I w ATTORNEY.

0. A. SAWYER.

WEFT FORK ACTUATOR FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY3, 1912.

Patented July 22, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVEN T 0R.

25A A TTORNEK WI T NESSES:

is similarly prevented from operation.

Learner.

ware-r0 a Qpeoifloation of Letters Patent.

n'r OFICE.

GREEN 1%. SAWYER, 0F LOWELL, MASSACHUEETTS.

-ACTUATOR EOE LOOllliS.

I j Application filed Italy 3, 1912. Serial Ho. 707,457.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORREN A. SAwYnn,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county ofMiddlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented -a certainnew and useful improvement in Weft-Fork Actuators for Looms, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to weft-fork-actnatone for looms, in which astop-motion on weft-replenishing devices is controlled by such a forkand a rack and involves supporting the rack independently of the lay andmaking the rack movable synchronously with the beating up of the lay insuch a manner that the bars of the rack will always register with thespaces between the tines of the fork.

In most common plain looms for weaving cotton or Woolen goods there .isa stop-mo tion which is prevented from operation by the presence of anunbroken weft or filling thread between the shuttle in the shuttleboxand the cloth and in many weft-replenishing looms the weft-supplyingmechanislm n each case, a weft-fork is pivoted on a slide which issupported on the breast-beam and said fork is provided at itsfront endwith a hook, the ofice of which is to engage a vibrating arm of arock-shaft and to cause the slide which supports said weft fork to bemovedto release or actuate the devices which shift the belt or otherwisestop the loom, or which introduce a new supply of filling. The lay-beamof such a loom, as hitherto constructed, is provided between the reedand one of the shuttle-boxes with a rack or plurality of vertical barsand the rear end of the weftfork is bent down and divided into tines,each intended to pass through one of the spaces of the rack in theabsence of a weft-thread, but when a weft-thread is held in front of therack, the

tines or fingers of said; fork are pushed for-- or between the tines ofthe fork, on the other, are made quite narrow in order that the frictionof the yarn on these bars and tines may be sufficient to prevent theyarn from simply looping back and forth between lay to swin said barsand tines without tilting the lever, the tension of the-yarn" in theshuttle being very slight, and the yarn between the shuttle (when in thebox) and the reed being frequently loosened by the rebound-of theshuttle in thebox, so that the tension of the yarn is insufiicient totilt the fork. Lintgathers-on the rack or fork or on both and causes thefork to be tilted after the weft is exhausted or broken. When theweftfork continues to be tilted after the break-- ing or exhaustion ofthe filling, the loom continues to run and makes a thin place in thecloth. It is necessary. that the weft-fork should be carefully set andrevented from lateral movement on its fu crum, in order that the tinesof the fork may notbe hit by the rack and tilted in the absence of thefillin and also in order that the tines of the ark may not be broken,battered or bent by contact with the rack. Sometimes the tines are sobent laterally that the fork is tilted by-the rack, in the absence offilling. Frequently the fork is caused to strike the rack by the layshifting position laterally in itslbearings. Sometimes the wear of thepitman connections, the straps and boxes which connect the pitman to thelay, and the crank shaft become so Worn as to allow the too far forwardin beatin up, so that the are of the rack strike the c osed ends of thespaces between the tines of the fork and tilt the fork in the absence offilling. Sometimes a training end of ex hausted or broken filling willcontinue to tilt the fork making a thin place. The lint which gathers onthe rack and on the fork is frequently carried into the cloth, makingthick places i or bunches.

By the improvement hereinafter described, l obviate the difficultiesabove mentioned. I accomplish this by supporting the rack upon a pivotin such a manner that the bars of the rack always register with thespaces between the tines of the weft-fork,

and the rack enters the fork at every pick,

clearing the fork and rack of lint and loosening the trailing thread andlooping said trailing end. into both the fork and rack in such a mannerthat it can tilt the fork but once.

In the accompanying drawing, on two Patented July 22, 1913.

sheets, Figure 1, is a right side elevation of a part of a loom showingthe weft-hammer, its actuating cam, the \veft fork, its slide and stand,the tilting rack, the springpusher supported on the sword of" the lay,and in vertical section the lay beam and reed-cap, Fig. 2, a frontelevation of parts of the frame, breast-beam, lay-beam, reed, reedfcap,weft-fork, stand and spring-pusher;

Fig. 3, a right side elevation of the rack, weft-fork, its stand andslide, and the upper part'of'the weft-hammer, the fork and rack 'vationof the weft-fork an being shown in full lines in their untiltedpositions, in dotted lines in the positions they occupy when tilted; Fi4, a rear elerack with a -weftthread between them; Fig. 5, a right mer,the same being a bent-lever, the lower end a of which rests upon the camb, said weft-hammer being fulcrumed at 0 and its upper end 0 being swungforward by the lifting of its lower'end by "the cam b, and returned bygravity ;-D, the weft-fork which is a bent lever fulcrumed at din theslide E, and having a hook d to be engaged by i the upper end 0 of theweft-hammer when the filling is broken or exhausted, and to be drawnforward carrying with it said slide; F, the stand, on which the slidemoves; A, the breast-beam; G, the lay-beam; g g, the lay-swords; 9 thereed-cap; and H, the reed; all these parts being of the usualconstruction and operation, except as hereinafter stated, and the slidebeing connected by intermediate mechanism with a belt-shipping lever orother device which shuts off the power from the loom when the slide isdrawn forward.

The rack, I, instead'of being merely a series of bars arranged in acommon plane and carried by the lay in theusual manner, is hererepresented as similar in form to the weft-fork D and pivoted at 2', inthe same slide E in the-rear of the fulcrum d of said weft-fork (Figs. 3and 5) in such a manner that the tines or bars 2' when swung forwardwill register with the spaces between i the tines d of the weft-fork,the fulcrums parallel with each other and both turning in the parallelsides 6 c of the slide E. The rack is nearly straight (but has adownwardly curved offset immediately back of its hub, as hereinaftermentioned) and its front end is weighted at 0 and normally rests upon astop-stud 2' which projects horizontally from an inner wall ofthe slideE, (Fig. 3), so that the rear or forked arm of the rack is normally in anearly horizontal position as represented by full lines in Fig. 3, sothat when the lay heats up, the weft or filling thread carried bythelay, passes first under said forked arm of said rack. When the lay hasalmost completed its forward movement the front end of a spring-pusherthe back of the weft-fork, and tilting said I weft-fork and raising itshook out of the path of the upper end of the weft-hammer so that theslide is not moved and the stop-motion or filling changing'devices arenot operated. The operative movement of therack is limited by a radialprojection i on the hub 2' of said rack striking the under side of thestop-stud i above mentioned.

(Z of the weft-fork are representedas connected by a cross-bar d whichserves to stiffen said tines and to preserve the spaces between saidtines and furnishes an additional precaution against-the interference ofsaid tines with the bars of the rack.

The spring-pusher J is represented as a I fiat-sided rod j sliding in abearing j supported on a bracket {1' carried by the sword g of the layand forced forward by a spring j surrounding said rod and compressedbetween the head 3' orenlarged front end of said pushen'and said bracket7' the shape of-said rod and its bearing preventing the rod from turningand the spring being of sufiicient strength to tilt the rack butsufliciently yielding to avoid breaking or bending the rack after theprojection i is in contact with the stop-stud 2' In Fig. 7, the outertines only of the fork are represented as joined by the bar (i and thefree ends of the bars of the rack are joined by a cross-bar 6 to stiffenand strengthen said bars and the middle tine of the fork is cut awaytoallow said cross-bar 2' to pass under it.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination in a loom of a weftfork, apivoted rack, the bars of which are arranged to register with the spacesbetween the tines of said fork, and means carried by the lay forswinging said rack into said fork at each pick of the loom. or hubs ofsaid weft-fork and rack being 2. The combination in a loom of aweftifork, a pivoted rack, the bars of which are i arranged to registerwith the spaces between ;the tines of said fork, and'means for swingingsaid rack into said fork by the forward movement of theday. v

3. The combination in a loom of a weftfork, a pivoted rack, the bars ofwhich are arranged to register with the spaces between the tines of saidfork, and yielding means carried by the lay and adapted to engage 85 InFig.4, the lower free ends of'the tines staid rack and to swing saidreek into said ,0 york.

we eembii'istion in loom of a weft .n i i said in i1 and not turning onparallel pivots in said slide and the "s of said reek being arranged toith the spaces between the tines of said LO and nieam mined by the layfor swinging" said rack into said fork.

5 The combination in a 100m, of a piv eted weft-fork, a pivoted resinthe bars of which are arranged to register with the spaces between thetines of said fork, a stop to limit the swinging of said rack into saidfork, and a spring-pusber carried by the lay 6. The combination 1n :1loom, of a pivoted weft-fork having the outer ends of its tinesconnected by a cross-bar to stiffen the 20 same, and a pivoted rackhaving bars arranged to register with the spaces between said tines, andmeans carried by the lay for swinging said, rack into said fork.

In witness whereof, I have affixed my sig- 25 nature, in presence of twoWitnesses.

ORREN A. SAWYER.

Witnesses ALBERT M. MOORE, AGNES C. Klnwm.

